With the Democratic National Convention scheduled next week in Chicago, all eyes will be focused on what a newly energized Democratic Party hopes will be its winning presidential ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Democrats are remarkably united in embracing Harris and Walz and justifiably encouraged by the surge in voter support for the new ticket.
We anticipate a gala production, full of inspiring music, evocative videos and broad entertainment. We expect uplifting messages, heartbreaking stories and inspirational rhetoric. And, of course, there will be a broad range of political views and commentary, an array of social and cultural pitches and a lot of hard knocks against perceived threats to democracy, the Constitution and the world order posed by the Republican nominees. That is all as it should be.
Those orchestrating the proceedings have an important job. They need to calibrate presentations carefully and navigate potential issues that could interfere with the planned messaging. They need to worry about what goes on in the convention hall and what goes on outside — since outside distractions will only draw attention away from the
convention celebration.
Democratic National Conventions in Chicago have a history. Those of a certain age will recall the disruptions of 1968. For those too young to remember, the graphic stories are all online. And so, with 1968 images in mind, convention planners — in coordination with the city of Chicago — are planning for inevitable demonstrations and how they will be managed. Those decisions need to be fair.
For the past several weeks, the city of Chicago has not acted on a request from a pro-Israel group to hold a solidarity march near the United Center during the convention proceedings. This is so, even though permission was granted to a coalition of pro-Palestinian activists to do precisely the same thing.
The Israeli-American Council, a nonprofit organization representing Israeli-Americans that seek to strengthen ties between the U.S. and Israel, filed two applications with Chicago’s Department of Transportation in early July, seeking a permit to hold a march. Those applications have not been acted upon.
An earlier application by IAC in mid-June for permission to hold a “stationary demonstration” within “sight and sound” of the convention was denied because the proposed IAC rally “would be a direct interference with a previously planned permitted activity or public assembly and would create public safety issues.”
The “previously planned permitted activity” to which the IAC rejection letter refers appears to be a “March on the DNC” sponsored by a coalition of pro-Palestinian activists approved by Chicago authorities last month. The coalition predicts some 25,000 participants in its protest of the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the war in Gaza.
Rejection of the IAC request through inaction is wrong. Both sides of the issue should be given equal opportunity to express their views. And both sides should have sufficient time to plan their activities and organize their supporters.
We call on the city of Chicago to approve the IAC request for a march permit and to do so immediately.
